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Review Summary

Because Kei Kumai's loving minor-key enchantment has such a genteel, forlorn wooziness  the picture is about the restorative power of love  it's hard to believe that the script comes from an unfilmed effort by Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa was almost ruthlessly anti-sentimental and is not particularly celebrated for his female protagonists. Yet there's what feels like an idealized, late-in-life tenderness in this story of Edo Period prostitutes, particularly in the character O-Shin (Nagiko Tohno). O-Shin isn't just a hooker with a heart of gold  she's all heart. Away from the brothels, she probably could pass for a young woman with a future; she doesn't have the hard-bitten sulkiness of her colleagues, principally Kikuno (Misa Shimizu), who dotes on O-Shin but knows what a fool for love her friend is. "Sea" rolls through the seasons  all of them  and Kurosawa's script treads the delicate line between conventional mortality and decency, as does much of his finest work. This material is simple nearly to the point of simple-mindedness, though. But the movie isn't dumb, although it is dismaying to learn that even Kurosawa had an unfilmed script romanticizing hookers' need for love. O-Shin isn't treated as a bashful novice. Fortunately Mr. Kumai, who himself has shown no aversion to baroque melodrama, leans toward a plain and direct style that's tasteful and intelligent, a boon given the predictability of the story. We're lucky, too, because Ms. Shimizu's command of character has an astringent effect as well, which is needed. By the time the film's typhoon of a climax slams into view, "The Sea Is Watching'' has made emotional waves of its own.  Elvis Mitchell